


Close The Door

by SwellDame



Series: Watch Me Burn [1]
Category: The Musketeers (2014)
Genre: Dom Drop, Dom!Athos, Dom/sub, F/M, Guilty Athos, How Do I Tag, I Blame Tumblr, I Tried To Write Porn And Then Feels Snuck Their Way In, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Kink Meme, Post-Season/Series 02, Restraints, Sub!Milady, Tumblr Memes, Tumblr Prompt, Wartime, What Have I Done, Whipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-21
Updated: 2016-07-21
Packaged: 2018-07-25 22:14:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7549315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwellDame/pseuds/SwellDame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A response to an OTP Prompt using the line, "I hope you don't mind whip marks" suggested by my dear Aramis: babystormpilot (queenaramis). Beta-read and sanity checked by Charis. Also inspired by Vast's "Flames" song.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [babystormpilot (hallaburger)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hallaburger/gifts).



"Do not take that off your head," Her captor growled as he pushed her into a wooden chair. Anne inwardly groaned as she shifted in her seat. She hated to admit that her bottom was a little sore from the rough ride through what she assumed was the English countryside.  
  
"Spare me the theatrics, Athos. I know it's you." He might have put this itchy sack on her head but her keen sense of hearing told her he was pacing the floor.  
  
Athos groaned and tore the sack off her head. She cracked her sore neck and tugged at her wrists but it wasn't easy trying to free them from behind her back.  
  
"Kidnapping isn't exactly in your forte." Anne smirked as her eyes adjusted to the light, which was low from a few candles lit around the room. She tried to discern their location but there was nothing that she recognized.  The air was cold and she shivered under her nightgown. It was a small bedroom with a bed and a nightstand beside it. A desk with a chair was situated underneath the window. A moonless night didn't give her any indication of the landscape outside. She was sitting in the only other chair in the room while Athos leaned against the doorframe watching her closely.  
  
"No. But you should remember knots were." He pestered. Anne tugged at her wrists to test the security of the rope. Damn. They wouldn't budge.  
  
It was then she realized that her cheeks were warm at the thought of how many times he had bound her wrists like this and she glanced up. The corner of his mouth twitched as if she read her thoughts, but then he seemed to always be able to.  
  
"Why have you brought me here?" she asked and shifted again. Now it was not so much from nursing her stiff body but from his gaze. They may have been separated by an ocean and a year's time but she knew that searing look of his and what came after it.  
  
Athos took a few moments to answer but she knew it was not because he didn't have an answer. She knew he was keeping her in suspense on purpose, scratching away at her patience so Anne was forced to make an outburst. She bit her lip and remained quiet for as long as she could.  
  
"I don't know," he sighed and moved across the room to sit in front of her on the edge of the bed. "Does a husband need a reason to see his wife?"  
  
"How convenient that in times of war a husband suddenly needs his wife," she spat back at him and rolled her eyes. Clearly, her resistance needed work.  
  
He hauled her to her feet in an instant, holding her by the forearms. His grip was going to leave bruises and deep in her soul she hoped those wouldn't be the only ones before the night was over. She needed this just as much as he did.  
  
His lips captured hers. But it wasn't a gentle kiss celebrating their reunion. Their mouths smacked together in an effort to dominate one over the other. He alternated between nipping and sucking on her lips back to not so gentle biting. It was a hard task to try and match his technique when her hands were still bound behind her back and one of his had moved to hold her head in place. She pulled away.  
  
"Funny, I haven't felt the need to see you, husband." She snapped, "After all, English men. . ."  
  
He didn't allow her to finish the sentence. Instead he kicked the chair out from the desk and pushed Anne against the surface. She squealed.  
  
They'd been through this familiar dance before. She grunted and struggled but his grip used to pin her in place was strong, stronger than she remembered. She felt his rough hand push her nightgown up, tucking it under her bound wrists. She whimpered.  
  
"Be a good girl and stay still," Athos instructed.  
  
She felt his heat disappear as he walked to the other side of the room. She twisted her neck sideways to watch him pull a sack out from underneath the bed. He stopped and glared at her.  
  
"Turn around. Don't look," he commanded. She did as bidden.  
  
She heard him rustling around and her curiosity was biting away at her impatience. He knew she enjoyed watching him move and to deny her it was slowly driving her mad. But she had to obey him. She sighed with frustration, loud enough for him to hear. She could have sworn he heard him chuckle.  
  
When he came back into her line of sight, he was carrying the sack. He dropped it on the floor and opened it, bringing out a leather whip.  
  
She recognized it immediately. They had used it in the early months of their marriage when they finally reached the threshold of trust it took to play like this with each other. She was amazed he kept it all these years. However, this was not the time to let him know she was feeling sentimental over a piece of leather.  
  
"Do you whip all of your new bedmates with that old thing?" She asked, her heart clenching at the chance he may have found someone else to share this intimate side of him.  
  
"No," he replied and said nothing else. She sighed, not realizing she was holding her breath.  
  
He set it down next to her face where she could inhale the aroma of the old leather. She kept her head still, allowing the sounds of the wood creaking under his weight to fill her head. She knew he was rifling through things only to deny the inevitable; he was testing her, but a strange calm fell over her as she breathed deeply. Her tense body suddenly relaxed into the uncomfortable position she was in. She was ready. He must have known because he was immediately at her side with his coat off and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows.  
  
He picked up the whip and weighed it in his hands.  
  
"Let's see if this _old thing_ still has some life in it," he mused, "Are you still with me?"


	2. Chapter 2

" _Yes_ ," she emphasized her answer with a vague nod. He made a slow circle around her, until he was standing behind her.  
  
"You remember how this goes, wife." He bent low and whispered, his lips brushing against her ear. "Our word is. . .?"  
  
Anne closed her eyes and replied, "Meadow."  
  
"Good girl." Athos complimented with a hint of a smile in his voice, "I hope you don't mind whip marks."  
  
She readied herself for the first lash and when it came, the sting made her body clench. It wasn't a harsh sting, but it hurt just enough to make her whimper. If she knew her husband like she thought, she suspected there would be a series of them similar to this one to pinken her skin. She remembered he liked that but she was impatient, as she always was during this part of their game. She wanted it to hurt; she wanted euphoria.  
  
"If that's how you use a whip, no wonder your horse won't listen to you," she grunted, proud of her remark.  
  
"Why are you being punished?" He asked. The whip whistled through the air and landed across her bottom.  
  
"I disobeyed you," Anne hissed and the whip cracked against the other side of her bottom. She clenched her legs together, waiting for the euphoric desire to sink in.  
  
"Are you going to disobey me again?" He asked.  
  
 _Whack!_ It snaked across her thighs. The scalding snap of the leather made her body melt into the desk again. There was a languid exhale and she relinquished herself over to him.  
  
"No," she wiggled against the desk to sate the sensation between the pain and something smooth.  
  
 _Whack! Whack!_  
  
The lashings scalded her this time and she half-wondered what her backside would look like afterwards. Anne waited for the next one. Then she waited some more.  
  
 _He had stopped?!_

Anne gritted her teeth and groaned. She craned her head to see if he was still behind her. Fortunately he was but he remained unmoved, detached from the proceedings with the whip hanging lax in his hand.  
  
Their safe word was hanging on the edge of her lips until he reached out towards her sore flesh and felt his callused fingertips trace the markings he had left.  
  
The sound she made was somewhere between an inhale and a moan, even though she couldn't stop her body from flinching. His simple touch made her worry vanish. But then his warmth left her as he took a step back and the wood creaked under him.  
  
 _Whack!_ It was unexpected and stole the air from her lungs without time to prepare for it.  
  
"Will you apologize?" He whipped her again, this time across her thighs. He didn't wait for her to reply, deciding that the whip should smack two more times before he wanted her to answer.  
  
"No!" She screamed. He cracked it against her bottom again, hard. This time she made a sharp cry. She hoped if he heard it, he would stop. He didn't.  
  
The last three had been too hard. Too quick. She couldn't differentiate between the ones that were supposed to be teasing and branding. They were all coming too fast now. They had never crossed a line they never crossed before.  
  
"Will you apologize?" He demanded.  
  
"Not unless you make me beg," She fretted. She had no immediate recollection of anything she needed to apologize for.  
  
"Oh, I will make you beg." His voice was raised to a dark, threatening tone. In all the times they had played, she never heard him sound menacing before.  
  
He whipped her twice more, each one sharper than the last. Her mind was blank; there was nothing more for her to confess. Was there something she had forgotten?  
  
The whip came down on her sore flesh twice more rapid successions. She knew the answer was dimly in her mind and there was no light or strength to help her figure out what it was. Anne didn't realize she was crying from the exhaustion until three more streaks of pain bit into her.  
  
"Apologize." He huffed from the exertion but he made a final lash across her bottom. She knew as soon as the pain sliced through her that the last one had broken the skin. She was tingling and burning all over; her legs were too weak to hold her for much longer.  
  
"I. . ." she struggled to breath, to think. Her thoughts were frantic and she felt her body tremble. She swallowed and tried again, "I should have waited longer for you. If I had known you'd come. Should have-"  
  
She stopped and realized she was already crying, her soft tears rolling off her nose and splashing onto the wood.  
  
For a few moments, all she could hear was her own soft crying and Athos' heavy breathing until there was a loud thud. The sound startled her but she knew he had dropped the whip. Then there was a bodily crash which shook the ground she stood on and made the floorboard groan and creak under its weight. But she couldn't move. She could barely stand, let alone wrestle herself into an appropriate position to see what he was doing. Had he fainted? Had he fallen? It would be unlike Athos to do either but concern and fear heightened her sensitivity.  
  
"Athos? Where - " She didn't have to finish her question because he appeared in her line of vision. He was on his knees. His face was ghostly pale, his blue eyes glassy and he was shaking just as much as she.  
  
"Anne, I - " He reached out, wanting to touch her but immediately drew back. His eyes scanned over her position, taking in the gruesome sight of her and a defeated groan escaped his lips. He fell back onto the floor, pushing himself back against the wall as though he was a broken child. He huddled himself against the stone and pulled his legs up to his chest. He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a great sob.  
  
"Athos!" She called to him. Seeing him struggle like this reinforced her urgent need to try to be closer to him. He seemed to cry harder at the sound of her voice.  
  
"Athos," she called to him again, trying to sound gentle this time, "untie me."  
  
He didn't listen. Instead, he looked up at her with tear-filled eyes as if she was miles away and he was helpless to rescue her.  
  
"I'm sorry, Anne. I'm so sorry," he cried.  
  
"Get over here and untie your wife!" She commanded with the last amount of strength she had. "Now!"  
  
She sighed with relief when he finally moved toward her on his knees with his head bowed, like a sinner approaching an altar. He quickly untied the rope at her wrists, taking great care to not touch an inch of her flesh.  
  
Anne slid to the floor once the ropes were released. She rubbed at her wrists while she looked at her husband who couldn't help but stare at the limp rope in his hands.  
  
"My fault," His voice was hoarse and low, "It's my fault."  
  
"No, Athos. Listen to me," She grabbed him by the neck with both hands and forced him to look at her.  
  
"It's not your fault," she whispered to him but it was no use. His eyes strayed to the scar on her neck and she swallowed.  
  
"This war has unleashed this beast inside of me." He began to sob again. "I thought I killed it when I," he caressed the scar across her neck, "created this."  
  
"Athos, no." She whispered and pulled him closer.  
  
He offered no resistance in allowing her to pull him into her. She felt his tears wet the front of her nightgown as he found the strength to desperately cling to her waist, grasping the fabric in his fingers and tugging her closer as if it were possible with them being against each other's chests. Any closer and they would have occupied the same space. She gasped when he made the innocent mistake of reaching around her and pressing his hand against her tender flesh. He withdrew it and immediately looked up at her, guilt-stricken.  
  
"It's all right," She breathed and looked to the bed, considering how she could move them both from the floor. It seemed so far away. They would have to settle for the floor tonight. She knew neither of them had the fortitude to move.  
  
"Athos, lie down." She instructed, mostly to benefit herself because she couldn't kneel any longer on her burning bottom without screaming.  
  
Again, he did as he was told but it wasn't an easy task for Anne. She gingerly moved her aching body to the floor with him. After they situated themselves, they communicated only in gentle caresses and soft kisses with Athos taking great care to stay away from the parts of her body he whipped. They both kissed and wiped away the tears of the other. None of their touching came with urgency or escalation to anything more than simply comforting each other until they both fell asleep.


	3. The Next Morning

The fresh morning breeze awakened her from a dreamless sleep. The rest that followed wasn't quite as pleasant as her body quickly reminded her of her blistering bottom and thighs, which made Anne groan and rolled over on her stomach. It was then she realized that sometime during the night Athos must have moved her to the bed. She reached out for him but the space beside her was empty. She tried to force herself to open her eyes and face the possibility that he left her already when she felt a hand swipe a cold liquid substance across her thighs.

"You didn't think I'd leave you like this, did you?" He said with a trace of mirth in his voice.  
  
"I never know with you. You've left me for dead before." She gasped as soon as the words left her lips. She wanted to sink into the bed and never be seen again after remembering what had transpired between them last night; how broken he had been.  
  
Anne turned over, ignoring her screaming wounds, to look at him. Her hand clasped around his wrist to steady him and herself.  
  
"I didn't mean to - " She started but was at a loss for words. Neither of them had ever been good at apologizing but Athos made a faint nod to her unspoken words anyway.  
  
"Turn over. I need to put this on the rest of them," He indicated to the small jar of liniment in his hands. Anne turned over and allowed him to tend to the rest of her wounds. She wet the bedspread with tears while she concentrated on his hands and the soothing ministration he applied. When he was finished, her heart clenched, assuming he was leaving then but then she felt his lips against her shoulder. She sighed.  
  
His hands squeezed around her waist which made her involuntarily buck her hips towards him coming into dangerous contact with his clothed thighs.  
  
"Are you too - " He ground out the words but she shook her head. He must have mistaken her reaction for refusal because she felt the hesitation in the way he pulled away from her. She whined, blindly reached back and grabbed his hand, pressing it high between her legs.  
  
"No," She emphasized, wiggling her hips again and making him groan.  
  
Without any more preamble, Athos freed himself of his trousers and sank into her, holding fast. His movements were deliberately slow and deep in order to hit the spot that made her purr and claw at the bed sheets.  
  
"Do your English men make you feel like this?" He growled as he bent over her. He squeezed her tender bottom for extra measure.  
  
"No," She would have time later to resent the fact that he drew the answers out of her the only way he knew how.  
  
He groaned and gave in to a more frenzied motion while whimpers and moans became their only exchange until they were driven over the edge. Anne was certain her escalating scream would have awakened anyone who was within a short distance of their room.  
  
Afterwards, she raised her head. As much as she wanted to bask in the afterglow with him, the need to know what was to become of them next gnawed at her.  
  
"What are we doing?" She asked, turning on her side.  
  
"Look outside the window," Athos said, his eyes still closed.  
  
When she did, Anne couldn't believe it was the sight of the English coastline not too far away. She could barely make out the slip of white sails moving in and out of the distant harbor. He was taking her back?  
  
"I'm taking you home," He clarified her doubts.  
  
"And I suspect if I put up a struggle -" She turned back to him and pulled herself closer.  
  
"Then you can expect another punishment," He warned.  
  
"Well, you know how I like a challenge," She mused with a smile.  
  
"And I'll rise to the occasion."


End file.
